Sysco Corporation is an American multinational corporation involved in marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, hospitality businesses like hotels and inns. The company is headquartered in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. Sysco, an acronym for Systems and Services Company, is the world’s largest broadline food distributor; it has more than 600,000 clients in a wide array of fields.
Sysco argues that the Sysco Protective Covenants Agreement contains a mandatory arbitration provision that applies to Lenhardt’s claims. Invoking the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) at 9 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., Sysco argues that the Court may not entertain Lenhardt’s claims, because the parties have not conducted the mandatory arbitration.